


Ascent

by Davarice



Series: Life Belt [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 15:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7227337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Davarice/pseuds/Davarice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A pilot completes a flying license renewal exam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ascent

===========  
Life Belt  
By Davarice  
===========

2\. Ascent  
    "Puck"  
    He looked up and saw the instructor at the door, looking back at him impatiently. The clock read 5:29. He stood up and stretched, making a show of how long he had been waiting. The instructor didn't react, her cold eyes unblinking. He walked through the door and she closed it behind him, sealing him into the hangar. He skipped over to a small, but heavily dented, transport ship with the training academy insignia on the side. He climbed up into the cockpit, and donning the headset waiting for him thrust him into the middle of an ongoing conversation.  
    "...only so much I can do when they fly into every tree they see. It's like they're actually trying to destroy her." As much as he liked the rants, he would much rather get this over with.  
    "Jeremy?"  
    "Oh hey Lee, how was the flight over?"  
    Before he could answer, the gruff voice of the Overseer cut in. "Mister Puck, you have probably noticed we are behind schedule. As such I would appreciate it if you got started immediately."  
    "Yes sir. Leroy Puck, age thirty-one, semiannual license renewal number nine. Current time 17:32 hours, departing bay F." Leroy buckled in and switched on the instruments as he spoke, preparing to lift off. The cargo camera showed nothing but an unhelpful set of monitoring equipment. "The trip was alright. What's my cargo today, Jeremy?"  
    There was a rustling sound as Jeremy flipped through his documents. "Looks like a full hold of tourists. Medium speed tolerance with low acceleration resistance."  
    "And the same course as always?"  
    "Actually, there's a detour this time. The idiot before you clipped the top of the forest and his thruster lit a tree. You'll be heading through the canyon since they have fire freighters swarming the woods."  
    Leroy frowned as he flipped a particularly garish control. "The canyon? As in Odessa Canyon? That's not a course. Have they even surveyed it?"  
    The Overseer interrupted again. "The canyon is an in-progress course, however it is fully flyable. Preliminary obstacles and beacons have been placed, and Officer Davidson here assures me you are capable of more...extreme maneuvering than most pilots, should it be required. I am starting your timer in thirty seconds, see that you do not further delay the schedule." There was a blip and a click, followed by soft noise, as the link cut and Leroy was left alone. He glanced back at the hold monitor as, with a loud hum, he maneuvered the craft off the deck and in front of the bay shield.  
    "Tourists, eh?" he muttered to himself as he waited for the shield to drop. He produced a small crystalline prism from his jacket pocket and slotted it into a port on the control panel. "Have an in-flight history lesson." The bay shield dissipated with a crackle and the transport immediately shot out of the hangar, a shockwave scattering the loose equipment, while an Ancient Metal song blared to life on his headset. In seconds the sound barrier was shattered, the small craft screaming into the sky. At an altitude of 3km, Leroy slammed on his brake thrusters and banked hard starboard, falling into a rolling nosedive before leveling out towards Odessa Canyon.  
    Though the notification sound was easily drowned out by the soundtrack, Leroy saw the transmission monitor indicate that scoring was about to begin. Slowing to about 500m/s, he dodged the construction signs and headed into the course. It started off with the basics, mere turns and pitches, followed by static obstacles: outcroppings and partial walls. With the medium speed restriction, these early obstacles were child's play to Leroy. About fifty kilometers down the canyon, the movement tests began. Crossbeams on rails meandered along the width and height of the course, getting progressively thicker with every kilometer. Eventually these gave way to a series of pendulums to weave between.  
    As he approached the fifth testing class, Natural Hazards, Leroy saw the ominous "Under Construction" warning signs ahead. He took a deep breath and silently hoped his trepidation was unfounded. Oddly enough, he thought he heard a voice behind the music. Lowering his headset away from his ears slightly, he listened carefully and rechecked the cargo monitor, as well as the external inspection screens. He saw nothing, and heard only the engine. Making a mental note to schedule a checkup later, he returned his attention to the rapidly-approaching deathtrap ahead. As this was the only real difference between courses, he slowed to a more reasonable speed, barely even supersonic, and sat up straighter in the control chair.  
    Leroy wove around a waterfall, dodged some enormous hailstones, and climbed over top of an artificial storm cloud. He was reaching the end of the canyon, and a trail of beacons lit a tunnel into the side of the mountain. After several minutes of tight turns and precise maneuvering, Leroy tripped a sensor in the rough stone wall as he passed, a shockwave shook the tunnel, and a rumbling could be heard from above. Two more turns and a light was visible at the end of a long stretch, and small stones were visible tumbling down, occasionally with a larger rock; He had triggered a controlled avalanche. Halfway down the final stretch, Leroy heard a shockwave that dwarfed even the initial explosion; An impact so strong that he heard it clearly even over the music. Something had gone very wrong. Deciding that a perfect score was not worth the risk of being crushed, he threw the throttle control to maximum capacity and gunned the engine to full power; The sudden acceleration temporarily blinded him, even through the inertial reduction field. Without his sight, he was unable to correct his course, and as the shuttle soared out of the side of the mountain at many times the speed of sound, the side of the thruster clipped a the edge of the tunnel mouth.  
    The sudden explosion and resultant spin put Leroy over the edge, and his senses faded to silent blackness. When he opened his eyes, he saw the sky out the viewport. He blinked, and saw the peak of the mountain, sideways. He blinked again and he saw the ground rushing towards him alarmingly fast, and giant airbags inflating throughout the cockpit. The next time he opened his eyes, he felt quite warm and comfortable, and was greeted with a strange and very blurry sight: the upside-down interior of a cockpit, without the windshield, and nothing but sky beyond. A short distance in front of him was the end of a leg. It was protruding from between two crossbeams, and positioned as though it was about to step on his face.  
    Leroy felt the need to get his bearings, but he was too comfortable here to be bothered getting up. As he turned his head to see what he was lying on, a trickle of blood ran into his eye. With a sick sensation he realized why he was so warm: the corner of the room he was lying in had formed a trough of blood. His sickness redoubled into horror as he looked back up at the leg and it hit him whose leg it was. "Well," he thought to himself, "This is going to be a hell of a checkup."


End file.
